Yesterday as I was driving to work I noticed a few crazy souls running in the 20-degree cold. One of them wasn’t even wearing a hat, the other was so bundled up he was barely moving!

Now I am dedicated to running as you know, but even I will shun the cold and turn to the treadmill.

Besides, now that my kids enjoy the play area at my local Bally’s I merely take them to gym and hop on the treadmill.

So now you are on the treadmill; what do you do with yourself?

A few months ago, I did a story on Audiofuel; and I have to tell you, while I can rock out to everyone from Godsmack to Madonna to Nickelback to Donna Summer (yes, even I can rock to Donna Summer) the Audiofuel training programs are perfect for running on the treadmill for motivation.

Last night for example, I decided to train to the 43-minute interval workout and I found myself running hard. I warmed up at a pace almost a minute faster than my normal warm up speed and didn’t feel a thing until Martin Yelling starts tells you to pick up the pace.

Yes, I said Martin Yelling. He’s the coach on these Audiofuel workouts and trust me, by the end of the sixth interval you are glad he’s there pushing you to finish.

Mental Strength is Needed: Even on a Treadmill

The good thing about a treadmill, is that unlike outside when you just need to downshift to run slower as you begin to tire, on the treadmill, if you put it up to a 7.8 or 7:41 min/mile pace, in theory, unless you push the down arrow to slow down, you’ll keep running at a 7:41 pace! And while it’s way too easy to turn down the speed as your legs stiffen and your lungs are on fire and your mind tells you that you can’t, now is the time to use your mental strength to push this interval out.

Martin will tell you when you are at minute, then two, then when you are 10 seconds out from finishing the interval. Towards the end I needed to walk between intervals, but that’s fine with me. At a bare minimum you can honk out 4-6 miles in this little 43 minute program and finish feeling like you’ve done something.